Eye protector



NOV. 28, E' D TlLLYER Er AL EYE PROTECTOR Filed March 29, 1950 A T TORNE Y Patented Nov. 28, 1933 ijs rE PROTECTOR Edgar D..!1illyer and Ercell A. Teeson, Southbridge, Mass., .assignorsto American Optical Company; Sogthbridgm Mass., a voluntary association of lMassachusetts iiiiuaii March 29, 1930. serial' No. 446,027

ioiaims. (ci. 2-1'4) v The principal object of thls invention is to pro'- 5 ridemexrsiihelby .the @minimi 0f ventilarwn in rmpriiesior, willA` bis.. subsiarltaly. 'constant regardless ofthe conditions under which' said eye ploiewris 95rd.-

. ,Anotheruob'iet of thishnvention is to provide 3.11.62?? Proii01-parillrli djaptd foravitra.. 'daher arr-,Spad @para br haar ventilation which is regulated by the velocity. of the external air.,A

lrfrggwv-I risa andrai vrew similar to rig. m blt @hiring d gtiolvr fr p jmentary enlarged view' of the mod iiol Shwn. in. Figi'. V, Y. ing". v1.1` i fr grabar narrdlvieri or the tnbiilar nie'inoer showing' a' further modification.;

*Fig'-lVIII is a section taken on line VIIILVIII of vent'pontrol means'.

y Ey-'protetor's for aviators'. autmobilsts and others engaged in high-speed occupations are usually ventilated' by a suction device of somenatre which is dependent upon the velocity of the Wind and the speed of the machine for, its operation. Usi'la'lly the WindA thus created isV allowed to pass through a specially `designed lchamber and to draw as it goes the Warm air from the interior off tirepyegprotector. It will readily be seen from this opleration that an yiinffortilngilte Condition is present, inasmuch asa d e which is 4quitey ancient at, cient Ventilation, vvill kinvariably gvvertoo'4 much at ahigher rate oisped. .The converse i'sjoi course, rrue and' if are ventilation is4 made; fqrva high rate of speed, such asis. usual coinbat planes, it willb'e too restricted for use in ordinary transport Work.r f

. lt isthepriine object oio'ur invention; therefore, ro p'ro'rfiael a verruiming device formes@ @ya protectors which Will regulatelthe flovvof air to the interiorof theheye-proteotor 'c'ooidin'g to the speed at Whi'clitheiiser is travellirigor the velooity of the Wind past his` head and keep a 'constant degre'itheroh Referring t hej drawing whre'i similar' charaters of Frefe encemdenote,corresponding parts thblight, the. evrl vi'WSihe ,numeral -l d notei Athe Iens's of. amar-protector, w' "'h.. are suppbrtdhyih lens rims. 2j'. The lens rir'rijsj zj are j oirid genrer by the' hinged bridgey 3 ira-ving struts' 4' extending' from the hingspsts 5j for thspurposez AThe lensrrirns 2' areV split attheir temporal'ends arriiarripd together ar tigris point by means of the endpieoes 6 carrying the headband '1;

A facemcpnrar member s of rubber other resiiienrmareriai matted irre@ each lens rim? 23nd clamped thereinyby the actionof the endp'ieces. A metal frarnelg may be secured to yth'efaioe contact member 8 by. sewing, emen'tinguoruother suitable means. y Contact member isthereby preserved andA ift may bvdfreely removed and inserted intof they split lens rim 2 and clain'ped rnore' firn`1lyin' position. A series of holes 3l in therim 2 and 30 in the frame 9, Fig. IV, adrnit air to the interior; ,n

YThe details of construction s'et forth `n the foregoing mayb'eyaried at Will asy the novel featureof thisr invention'.does not depend tof any great extent iipo'n the exact arrangement deszribed. The ventilation.' of the ey'p'rotector has been incorporated into the described' embodiment and the n'oi'relt'y of oilrdevice Willno'w beo'me apparent together with its adaptability to Various types of eye-protector.

he ventilation arrangement. consists preferably of a tubular member 10 having Within its bore a pair of internally taperedr sleeves 1l. These sleevesmll are preferably pressed into the bore from eachend with a small space 12 y,between them, Communication with the exterior is next The shape of the rubber1 face Referring more particularly toFigs. andvv 4 provided by slotting the tubular member 10 at one side opposite the space 12 so that air passing through the tapered sleeves will communicate with the' air entering through slotted portion between them. To the tubular member l0 and covering the slotted portion we next attach, by soldering or other suitable method, a support member 13 having a hole 14 therethrough. From Fig. III it will clearly be seen that an air passage is provided from the tapered sleeves 11 through the slotted portion of the member 10 to the hole 14. The end of the support 13 may be reduced to enter a hole 15 in the lens rim 2 and the assembled ventilation means may therefore be secured, by soldering or other suitable means, to the said lens rim 2.

The rubber face contact 8 is cut away at the point of connection to form the aperture 16 and a hole 17 is provided in the frame 9 at this point.l

It will readily be seen that air passing in either direction through the tapered sleeves 11 will suck air from the' interior ofthe eye-protector through the holes and slot communicating therewith.

We have found, however, that the velocity of the air passing through the'tapered sleeves 11 is dependent in its suction effect upon the size of the communicating holes in the lens rim 2 and the frame 9. n

We have, therefore, utilized this to overcome the serious objections to prior forms of ventilation which have been described herein and to provide an automatic control of the amount and 'force of the suction draft applied to the interior of the eye-protector.

In carrying out this improvement We provide on the inner frame 9 a thin strip of material forming a tongue 18 which may be attached at one end to the said frame 9 by rivets 19 or other suitable means. The tongue 18 extends along the inner frame 9 and covers the vent hole 17 therein, although at this point it is sloped away from contact therewith. A hole 20 of much smaller diameter than the vent hole 17 is provided in the tongue 18 and is shown in Fig. III opposite said vent hole 17.

The operation of the deviceis of an extremely simple but very efficient nature inasmuch as when the velocity of the air passing K horizontally through the tapered sleeves 1l reaches a'certain point the increased suction in the vertical directionlthrough hole 14 will cause ,the sloping tongue '18 to move towards the vent hole 17 and cling to the frame 9 at this point, thus reducing the size of the vent 'hole 17,in effect, to that of the hole 20 inthe tongue 18.

4When the speed of the plane is reduced or the velocity of the Wind drops the suction in the ven'- tilation means will correspondingly grow less, whereupon the tongue 18 will automatically return to its normal position vand allow the large venthole 17 to resume its operation and passa larger quantity of air therethrough.

This hole 20 may be positioned slightly offset from thevent hole 17 as long as some air may pass therethrough. In this connection the modified form of tongue 35 having no hole, as shown in Fig. IX, may also be used. In this` embodiment the end is turned up at 36 so that the flat portion will be held spaced from the hole 17 Yin Vthefranie 9 when the suction causes the tongue to move towards it. The air will thus pass across the eyecup to the hole 17 but not have a clear passage theretoowing to the obstruction of the tongue 35. The air will necessarily circulate around the sides of the tongue member 3.5 and due to the turned up edge 36 will be able to flow between the tongue 35 and frame 9 and so through the hole 17 therein. It will be obvious that this modification has precisely the same effect as the previously described embodiment in creating an impedance for the flow of air as soon as the suction is increased.

As a modification We can provide means to accomplish the desired variable ventilation wherein the velocity of the air itself will prevent too much suction being created in the eyecup as distinct from the previously described form wherein the suction was graduated by mechanical 'means In this embodiment we provide means to create centrifugal force and turbulence of the air sucked through the ventilation means. Ref' ferring to Figs. V and VI, we provide a support member 2l which supports the tubular member 10 over the eyecup. The support member 21 has an extension through the face contact member 8 which fits above the hole 14 in the frame 9. In the bore'of the support 21 we provide a preferably helical groove 22 extending from the tubular member 10 to the frame 9 opposite the hole l4`therein.

The air rushing through the tapered sleeves 11, as in the previous case, will cause suction in a vertical direction through the hole 14. When the velocity of the wind through the sleeves 11 is slow the air sucked through the hole 14 passes withA little impedance through the center passage 23 of the support 21. However, as thevelocity increases the air will bel sucked up faster, but owing to the helical groove it will not find a clear passage. The centrifugal force and turbulence created in the helical groove by the increased sucking action of the air velocity, through the tapered sleeves 11, will increase at a very much faster rate thanthe increase of sucking action due tov velocity, so that very little more air will of the eyecup than at slow speeds.

In Figs. VII andVIII a further embodiment of the centrifugal force and turbulence principle has been shown. This embodiment may have pass through the support 21 from the interior the tapered sleeves 11 with a tubular member 10 as before, but without the extension on the support 21. To create centrifugal force to `control the amount of air sucked from the eyecup we provide a groove 24 in the face of each taper sleeve 11 at the space 12 between them in the form of an ionic volute. The air is sucked up from the interior of the eyecup by the velocity of the air passing horizontally through the tapered sleeves 11 as in the previous cases. This embodiment, however, depends more uponcentrifugal force for the control of the air suction than upon turbulence although the latter enters as a factor. We have found that the centrifugal force tending to keep air away from the center portion of the slot '12 increases as the square of the velocity, so that the amount of air drawn through is not increased a great deal as the suction effect increases.V Y

From the foregoing it will be apparent that we have provided extremely simple means to overto other necessary operations while the ventilation takes care of itself.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. In a device of the character described, an eyecup member having an orifice therein through which air may pass, a cover member over the orifice having an oppositely tapered bore, the smaller cross-section of which is intermediate its ends and having an opening which overlies the orice and communicates therewith and forming an air passageway from the eyecup to the outside air, and structural means associated with the air passageway for maintaining the flow of air from the eyecup of substantially constant velocity irrespective of the velocity of air currents through the cover member.

2. In a device of the character described, an eyecup having Van orifice therein through which air may pass, a member over the orifice adapted to cause suction of the air in the eyecup and a tongue member having an aperture therein overlying the orifice and operated by the said suction to superimpose the aperture over the orice to change the amount of suction in the eyecup.

3. In a device of the character described, an

eyecup having an orice therein through which air may pass, a member over the orice having an oppositely tapered bore, the smaller crosssection of which is intermediate its ends and having an opening which overlies the orice causing suction of air in the eyecup and a tongue member having an aperture therein overlying the orice and operated by the said suction to superimpose the aperture over the orifice to change the amount of suction in the eyecup.

4. In a device of the character described, an eye cup having an orice therethrough, a member external of the orice having means for directing air' currents across the orifice to cause air to be drawn out through the orifice, and structural means associated with the orifice through the eye cup operable automatically by the passage of the air for maintaining the ow of air from the eye cup through said orice of substantially constant velocity irrespective of the velocity of the air currents directed across the orice by the said external member. 

